Portland, Oregon is occupied territory. It was invaded years ago by a non-native species of political animal from back east who took over our political and cultural institutions in order to try out their utopian socialist dreams on our great state.
This blog will chronicle the insurgency that is trying to free Oregon from the occupiers' grip by shining a bright light on their most egregious schemes.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Eradicating opportunity

Unemployment has doubled in six months. We sit at 12.1%, and the political class in Oregon has no clue. No clue at all that its policies are the CAUSE of Oregon's #1 national rank in the one statistic no one wants to lead.

It's not as if this is the first time. Oregon was tops in unemployment in the last recession, and was the last state to recover. For aalmost 20 years, from the early 1980s to 2000, the Intel-led boom in Oregon's silicon forest papered over the fact that Oregon government policies have made us uncompetitive.

We destroyed tens of thousands of jobs in natural resource industry. We drove up the cost of energy, one of Oregon's few competitive advantages. We turned a functioning transportation system into a congested nightmare. We taxed business success at the highest rate in the nation. We put in place a land use planning system that put the private sector at the mercy of planning bureaucrats. We grew the least efficient public education system in the country. And we burdened the taxpayer with an unsustainable public pension system that allows 52 year old gym teachers to retire with guaranteed $75,000 a year payments.

And now our economy is in meltdown. Color me shocked.

The government's response? Create the "next big industry" through government-directed subsidies and taxes on energy. Oppose new sources of energy such as LNG. Spend billions on 19th century rail transportation systems. Allow the education establishment to attack the most innovative, efficient new approach to schooling yet devised. Raise taxes on health insurance and hospitals to grow the government-directed health plan. Demand a gross-receipts tax on business that would tax the private sector whether it was profitable or not.

You know what pisses me off more than anything about all this? They have DESTROYED this great state, and my children are not going to have opportunity here. When they are both graduated from college in four years, living here will simply not be an option.

Don't blame the Democrats - their rise is directly tied to the passage of Senate Bill 100 and the Public Employees Collective Bargaining Act in 1973. Senate Bill 100 serves as an invitation for every environmentalist to come to Oregon to see how enlightened we are. PECBA created the money base for Democrat politics in Oregon.

The D political base in Oregon is composed of two groups - the enviros and the public employee unions. 1973 was absolutely the worst legislative session that Oregon could have experienced, and it was all the result of the champion of both SB 100 and PECBA - our fearless leader Tom McCall. No governor in Oregon has done more to ruin this state than McCall. No wonder the Portland establishment treats him like some kind of deity.

HB 2015 is up for a hearing today at 1. This is an anti-LNG bill that hopefully goes nowhere. Unfortunately, it isn't just the Dems that are the problem. Republicans like Scott Bruun are anti LNG, support cap and trade, and are anti gillnetting. These people have to understand that if you want economic development in the state, you need a way to say "yes". If you enjoy your salmon dinner at a restaurant, you better watch out.